


fool

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Angst, Break Up, Cisco is a busybody, Community: 1-million-words, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-01
Packaged: 2018-08-18 20:44:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8175478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: When Joe and Caitlin break up, Cisco's first reaction is relief. Until.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For September bingo, squares sorrow and break up.

When he hears that Joe and Caitlin have broken up, Cisco's not gonna lie, his first reaction is one of relief. Maybe now, things will go back to normal, with Iris actually talking to Caitlin and Barry not being permanently tongue tied because he's trying to keep the two of them happy and not take sides, which only serves to piss off Iris. Maybe now Wally will actually be able to look at Caitlin, talk to her like he used to before he went red to the tips of his ears every time he looked at her. Which is a reaction Cisco totally gets, because no-one should have to discover that their dad is fooling around with one of their friends the way that Wally discovered it. He'd told Cisco about it in way more detail than Cisco was really comfortable with - he'd had trouble himself looking Joe and Caitlin in the eye for a while afterwards.

Of course things don't work out quite like that - when have things ever worked out the way any of them expected? - but, hey, Cisco's a patient guy, tells himself that some wounds don't heal quite so quickly. And if things aren't going back to normal straight away, he still thinks they are reverting to their previous status quo. Even if slowly. Like, glacially slowly. 

He only discovers he's wrong when he looks up from his pad one day at a Team Flash meeting and the first thing he sees is Caitlin's face. She's staring across the room at Joe and the look on her face is one of such sorrow that it makes his breath catch in his throat.

That was the look she'd worn immediately after the particle accelerator explosion, the one she'd worn at Ronnie's funeral. 

He'd never wanted to see that look again and to see it now makes him go cold all over. 

He grows colder still when she looks down at her own computer screen and he sees her jaw muscles work as she swallows furiously. She doesn't know he's noticed, doesn't know that he keeps an eye on her for the rest of the day, doesn't know that he sees the pinched pallor on her face, the dark shadows under her eyes that make up is carefully hiding, he the tremor in her hand that nothing can hide. 

And she definitely doesn't know that when Joe left, Cisco kept his eyes on him, saw how, when he got to the doorway, Joe turned and glanced at Caitlin. Cisco was watching carefully, otherwise he might have missed the look of mingled desire and pain that crossed the older man's face, hastily hidden as he turned on his heel and walked away. 

That's the night that, when everyone else has gone, Cisco hands Caitlin her coat and purse and orders her out of the lab, telling her he needs to talk to her. 

They end up at a little café - not Jitters, he's not an idiot - near her place. He orders ice cream for two, no arguments, and when the bowls are on the table between them, he simply says, "You and Joe."

That same sorrow flashes across her face but she tampers it down quickly. "Would never have worked." She bites out the words, her lips thin. The look in her eyes, now that he knows to watch for it, tells a different story. 

"Is that what you really think? Or what you want to believe?" 

Her laugh is harsh and terrible and way too much like Killer Frost for his taste. "Does it make a difference?" She stabs the ice cream viciously with her spoon and Cisco is having all kinds of Earth 2 flashbacks. "Not one person thought it was a good idea-"

"Apart from the two of you." He doesn't usually interrupt Caitlin, not when she's talking about her feelings which she does so rarely, but this is an exception. 

Caitlin opens her mouth then closes it again. Shaking her head, she looks off into the distance, runs her tongue over her upper lip. "I was happy," she admits finally, "with him. He made me feel..." Her voice trails off and Cisco is fighting the urge to stick his fingers in his ears when she finally concludes, "Whole." 

And just like that, he remembers. 

Caitlin, standing in STAR Labs, tears in her eyes, hair in a ratty ponytail, not a scrap of make-up on her face, not long after she'd escaped Jay's clutches. "I don't think I'll ever be whole again," she'd told him and he'd taken her in his arms and promised her she would be. 

Killer Frost, staring at him as he tells her about his Caitlin. About how when she loves somebody, they're her whole world. 

And he wonders how the hell any of them ever thought that if Caitlin was involved that all she was doing was fooling around. 

Caitlin's not the type to fool around and from what he knows of Joe, neither is he. 

"Then you should be with him." The words are out of his mouth before he has time to think, before he has time to stop them. Her jaw drops and she just stares at him. Holding up his hands, he continues, "Look, I know what people said. But they'll get over it." Tears flood her eyes and she shakes her head. "Caitlin, it'll get better." He reaches out, covers her hand with his. "You deserve to be happy, Caitlin. More than anyone I know." 

She laughs, runs her free hand under her eyes. "I'm not sure Joe agrees," she admits but that, at least, he has an answer to. 

"I saw the way he looked at you today. Trust me, I think we can talk him around." 

"We?" Hope and disbelief war in her voice. 

"Hey, you've been my wingman more than once," he reminds her. "I'm calling Joe. Right now." 

She tries to stop him but he doesn't take no for an answer, and when Joe answers the call, he just tells him the address and that he needs to get there as soon as possible, tacking on almost as an afterthought that Joe doesn't need to tell Barry. The next few minutes after that are devoted to convincing Caitlin she doesn't need to run away and he knows the second Joe enters the café because Caitlin sits up straight, a fine line of tension running along her shoulders. When Cisco turns, he sees Joe staring at the two of them, looking like he's frozen in place and Cisco stands and grabs his jacket, crosses the room to stand beside him. 

"Consider this my version of the 'if you hurt her, I'll have to kill you' speech," he says, clapping Joe on the shoulder. He's not joking either and Joe blinks once, his gaze swivelling from Cisco to Caitlin and back again. He lifts one eyebrow in what's unmistakably a question and Cisco figures Caitlin will forgive him for what he says next. "She loves you, man," he says quietly and he doesn't even grin a little bit when Joe's mouth drops open. "And I think you're pretty crazy about her too. So don't screw it up, OK?" 

With that, he heads out the door, crosses the street, intending to go home. 

Instead he turns, looks through the giant windows of the café and sees Joe and Caitlin standing facing one another at the table he's just vacated. As he watches, Joe reaches out, takes one of Caitlin's hands in his and she steps into him, sliding her other arm around his waist. As she rests her head against his shoulder there's the kind of smile on her face that Cisco hasn't seen there in far too long, the kind of smile that makes him want to smile too. And even though he knows there's going to be pushback about it in the morning, for now, he can't bring himself to care. 

Let them have tonight. The morning will take care of itself.


End file.
